Billingsgate Roman House and Baths

Tickets and tours: which to book

Nothing for this site is sold on GetYourGuide, and there is no walk-in entry. The remains sit in the basement of an office building, and the City of London opens them only for guided tours on scheduled dates, run by volunteer City guides. Tickets are released online in advance, groups are small and popular dates sell out, so book as soon as you know your travel dates. The ticket price is modest and covers the guided visit, which lasts under an hour.

There is no audio guide or self-guided option, and the guide is useful in any case: the remains are partly fragmentary, and the guide explains which walls belong to the late 2nd-century house and which to the later bath suite. Groups can sometimes request a private visit through the same organisers.

Most people who come here are already exploring Roman London, so the visit works well as one stop in a walk that also takes in the Roman wall at Tower Hill, the Roman pavement in the crypt of All Hallows by the Tower and the Temple of Mithras in the City. Several London walking-tour companies cover Roman Londinium on foot, but they pass the outside of this building rather than going in. The sensible plan is to book an official tour date and build a Roman City walk around it.

A short history

The house was built in the late 2nd century on the Thames waterfront of Londinium, with a north and an east wing around a courtyard; the east wing had heated floors. In the 3rd century a bath suite with cold, warm and hot rooms was added in the courtyard. The house stayed in use until the early 5th century, unusually late for Roman London, and was probably a ruin by AD 500. The warm room was found in 1848 during building work for the Coal Exchange and kept in its cellar, the first Roman remains preserved in place in the City. It was excavated again in 1967 to 1970 and kept under the new building. It is a scheduled monument.

Getting there

The remains lie under an office building at 101 Lower Thames Street, between London Bridge and the Tower of London, close to the old Billingsgate fish market building. The nearest Underground station is Monument, on the District and Circle lines, about five minutes on foot; Bank station on the Northern and Central lines connects to Monument through underground passages. Tower Hill station is about ten minutes east, and London Bridge station, with national rail and Northern and Jubilee line trains, is ten minutes across the river. Buses along Lower Thames Street stop nearby. Do not drive: the City has the congestion charge and very little parking. From Heathrow, take the Elizabeth line to Liverpool Street and walk or change.

Rules and what to bring

Visits are by guided tour only, so arrive a few minutes early at the meeting point given on your ticket; latecomers may not be able to join once the group has gone down. Stay on the walkway, do not touch or lean on the Roman walls and do not drop anything onto the remains. Large bags are better left at your hotel. The basement is cool all year, so bring a layer. There are no toilets or cafes on site.

When to go

Because the site is seen only on fixed tour dates, timing is mostly a question of getting a ticket. Tours are usually scheduled on certain weekend days in the warmer half of the year, and the annual open-house weekend in September and archaeology festivals can add extra dates that are free and very popular. Check the programme a month or two ahead and book early.

The weather does not matter underground, so a tour is a good wet-day plan, and weekends are quiet in the City because the offices are closed. Weekday mornings around Monument are busy with commuters, while weekend lunchtimes bring visitors walking between London Bridge and the Tower. Allow an hour for the tour and arrival, and half a day if you add the other Roman sites nearby. In winter, when tours are rarer, the other Roman remains of the City make a good substitute.